Operation HOx3
by Chloe Peacecraft
Summary: Zechs is on a top-secret mission...


Operation HOx3 

He carefully took out the key and sneaked into the apartment, all the while watching his back for potential unwanted witnesses. Everything seemed so easy, he remarked as he hauled his burden into the foyer and quietly closed the door behind himself. Far too easy for comfort… He looked around once more, crystalline blue eyes scanning for hidden intruder detection devices. 

"A-ha! Thought so," he gloated triumphantly as he avoided the first obstacle on his path to the living room. A pair of heavy-duty construction boots, strewn in the middle of the entryway, as though specifically meant for burglars to trip over. 

"Low-tech, but effective nonetheless," the young man thought with a lopsided grin as he made his way into the small apartment. 

He looked around and tsked at the state of disarray that the living room and adjacent computer den were left in. An empty bowl and spoon, unwashed and seemingly caked on with remains of Campbell's Tomato soup laid forgotten on top of the mouse pad. Beside the flat-screen monitor, a clear mug still half-full of what appeared to be organic apple juice greeted the observer with its yellowish tinge. A closer analysis revealed tiny specks of cinnamon floating in it, giving away the beverage's true nature as hot apple cider, or at least whatever remained of it. The young intruder decided that the tenant of the apartment obviously could not be bothered with keeping the place in a somewhat presentable shape. 

He gingerly unloaded his heavy burden onto the hardwood floor, all the while rehearsing the plan of action in his mind. "First set up the core equipment, then check for connectivity, and make any necessary adjustment, then proceed with the mission…" Heero Yuy's words resounded in his mind, his factual, expressionless face fresh in his memory from the quick demonstration that he had received through vid screen. 

"I think I can manage that," he grinned confidently, then double-checked the time. He would have to get everything done in under an hour to avoid being detected. Tricky, considering the equipment was altogether new to him, but then again, he hadn't been dubbed the Lightning Count for nothing… In fact, if anyone could pull that off, aside from Yuy himself, it would probably be him. 

He had the core structure hoisted in place in a matter of seconds, which boded well for the rest of the mission. "Aw, ffffff…ruitcake," he swore under his breath as the preliminary connectivity test failed. Of all the light indicators that should have come on, barely a quarter actually did. "Check for cabling issues, find where the faulty connection is, and replace it," Heero's instructions promptly surface to his mind through the adrenaline rush. His hands nimbly followed the media, eyes scanning for any anomalies until the culprit was quickly located and replaced. A second connectivity test proved the operation successful. 

Wiping beads of sweat from his brow, the Peacecraft let out a sigh of relief, all the while checking his timing. He was a little above the estimate, but that was to be expected, given the connectivity setback. Moving swiftly about the room, he secured the peripheral devices to the core structure, one by one, in exactly the same sequence as Heero Yuy had instructed. "It needs to look like the work of a professional," the ex-Gundam pilot had warned, "otherwise, Merquise, there is no point in the entire mission." And if there was one thing that Zechs Merquise a.k.a. Milliardo Peacecraft would not be caught dead doing, it was a sloppy job. 

He carefully surveyed the results at the end. He had managed to recuperate some time during the peripheral setup, and was now wisely utilizing it at the quality control stage. He made the necessary adjustments, perfected the balance load, and tested the connection once more. All the light indicators signaled to him that his job was done for now. Now it was just a matter of getting the hell out of there, and waiting it out. 

"Mission accomplished," he sentenced solemnly as he crept out of the apartment and retreated to the safety of the fire escape route through the building's staircase. 

***************** 

Lucrezia Noin sighed and rubbed her temples as the elevator slogged its way up to her floor. She could feel a monster-sized headache coming on, and possibly the beginning of a chest cold. "Thank God it's Friday," she muttered under her breath as the door opened and she exited onto the hallway on the 7th floor. Work had been nothing short of insane. Which, come to think of it, had been standard operating procedure ever since she got to Mars and joined Terraformer. But it certainly didn't help matters when her partner suddenly decided to wig out on her half-way through the day. 

"What the heck was so urgent, anyway," she grumbled as she fished for the keys in her pocket. She was by no means new to Zechs acting secretive and disappearing in the middle of things for no apparent reason. In fact, she had gotten so used to it that, normally, his taking the afternoon off wouldn't have fazed her at all. What bugged her was that he had picked the absolute worst time to do that, with all the mayhem caused by the weather control system acting up. 

The blasted thing was suddenly refusing, for some mysterious reason, to produce any precipitations, and she figured that if they did not correct the problem pronto, the whole Terraforming project was going to be seriously hampered. They had tried everything under the sun to troubleshoot the machinery, with no results whatsoever, until the evening shift crew had taken over. To the best of her knowledge, they were looking at spending the entire night trying to figure out exactly where the problem was, with no guarantee of a solution by the next day. 

She let herself in, closed the door behind herself, and kicked off her shoes, trying to ban all thoughts of work for the rest of the evening. She then came around the bend in her foyer that led to the living room, and almost fell over in shock. 

There, in the middle of the room, was the most breathtaking Christmas tree, all lit up and decked out in ruby red, gold and silver hues. She stood there, awed and dumbfounded, for a good three minutes, merely taking in the show of lights playing in the half-darkness. She quickly checked the date function in her watch… sure enough, in Earth time, Christmas would be coming up in exactly a week, and she had totally forgotten about it. Advancing hesitant steps, she reached up to touch one of the branches, as though to ensure that it was not a mere vision from her childhood memories, conjured up by her tired mind. 

One thing didn't quite make sense, though: who on earth would surprise her like that? Who, except… Her eyes grew wide for a moment, her rational and emotional self playing tug-of-war over the possibility. Just then, the corner of her eye registered something outside her window. Something that looked suspiciously like… "What the… Snow?!!" 

On her coffee table, a note, written in a most familiar longhand gave away the mystery. 

  
_"Lucrezia,   
Sorry for tampering with the weather system. I had to make it part of the whole effect… This is the first Christmas that we get to spend together since the war, and I wanted to do something special, that you would always remember. Mars covered in snow is only the beginning, for I hear Sanq is quite lovely this time of the year… Would you do me the honour of visiting home with me?   
Love always,   
Milliardo"_


End file.
